Spring clip



April 8, 1952 R. F. SMITH, JR, ET AL SPRING CLIP Filed May 19, 1948 7 2/20 fg' m Patented Apr. 8, 1952 SPRING CLIP Robert F. Smith, Jr., andPaul'D; Dale, Rochester, N. Y., assignors to Eastman Kodak Company,Rochester, N. Y.', a corporation of Newv Jersey Application May 19,1948, Serial No. 27,866

8 Claims.

Thepresent invention relates to av device which may be attached to themargin of sheet material or to the ends of strips of such material,whereby the materials may be conveniently handled during processingoperations or such other treatment to which they may be subjected. Morespecifically, this invention relates to a photofinishing film clip forholding and supporting photographic film or other sensitized sheetmaterial during the various processing operations.

The present invention is directed to the provision of an improvedphotofinishing film clip which embodies all the advantages, desired in adevice of this type, in an eflicient and yet inexpensive device. Aphotofinishing film clip should positively grip the film to preclude anypossibility of the film becoming detached therefrom. This is bestaccomplished by a device which in fact pierces the film to be gripped.The use of such means, however, is always attended by the possibilitythat the perforations may be made in the picture area, thereby defacingthe film. The film clip embodying the present invention not onlyprovides this positive gripping means, but also limits the degree towhich the film may be inserted by the use of stops integrally formedwith the base of the clip. Sincethe clip is often immersed in theprocessing or washing liquids, it becomes desirable that the clip permitready drainage of the liquid during the drying period. Otherwiseaccumulations of liquid, retained by the clip during this drying, willbe released upon opening the clip and run down upon the film to streakthe latter. The film clip described herein reduces this possibility to aminimum by gripping the edge of the film at spaced points, openingsbeing provided therebetween to facilitate drainage of any pocket ofliquid held by the clip.

The present invention may be embodied in a film clip which is used toattach film strips to a supporting bar or in a weighted clip whichprovides the weight necessary to hold the strips in a verticallysuspended position in the processing tank. The manually operable end'ofthe photofinishing film clip, hereinafter described, is adapted toprovide means whereby the clip may be securely attached to a supportingbar. The base of the film clip is adapted to mount a heavy element toadd to the total weight of the device. This heavy element can beconstructed so as to be readily detachable from the. base or it can bepermanently securedthereto. The clamp, furthermore, is so designed thata minimum of pressure will suffice toopen the Jaws thereof. All of thesefeatures are included in a device which is extremely simple inconstruction and quite inexpensive to produce.

It is, therefore, an object of the present in: vention to providev animproved photofinishing film clip.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a film clip havingimproved film-gripping means.

It is a still further object of" this invention to provide an improvedfilm clip which is adapted to be' attached to, a supporting structureand, with slight modification, which will serve to hold a film strip inavertically suspended position.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an improvedfilm clip which may be readily and easily manipulated. which is simplein construction and which is relatively inexpensive.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, and it will be understood'that many changes may be made in thedetails of construction and arrangement of parts shown and describedwithout-departing from the spirit of the invention as expressed in theaccompanying claims. We, therefore, do not wish to be limited to theexact details shown and described as the preferred formonly has beenshown by way of illustration.

In the drawing;

Fig. 1 is a top view of a photofinishing film clip embodying the presentinvention;

Fig. 2' is an endview of that film clip showing the film-gripping means;

Fig. 3 is a rear end view of the clip;

Fig. 4 is anenlarged sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig, 1; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1

Our photofinishing film clip comprises essentially two elements whichmake up the jaws of the device. The upper element ID is a resilientmember, preferably formed of metal, one end of which is bent downward toform aseries of teeth or projections H terminating in thepoints [2. Theopposite end It serves as manually operable means and terminates in abent-down portion [4, the purpose ofwhich will become later apparent.Intermediate the ends of" the resilient member ID, a U-shaped slot I!cut in the member forms or defines an integrai'tongue It; To lendstiffness to the memher in while the tongue l6 and its connection tosaid member remain essentially resilient a bead or rib I! is formedabout the member II], as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

The second element of the device is the base unit 18 which is preferablymolded of plastic. Projecting means, such as a, pair of studs [9integrally formed with the base, provide attaching means for securingthe tongue 16 of the element In to the base unit. Screws 2B, threadedinto the studs l9. fasten the resilient tongue to the base unit,although obviously any spring, a leaf spring, exerts downward pressureupon the forward half of the resilient. member 10, as illustrated inFig. .5. A pair'ofintegral projections upon the base unit [8. pro:

vide a series of fulcrum points 22 upon which the member It] may bepivoted or rocked to open the clip when pressure is exerted upon themanually-operable means l3. These integral projections also providestops 23 which restrict the amount of film 24 which maybe inserted intothe photofinishing clip. This substantially precludes the possibility ofthe film clip engaging the film or film strip beyond the marginal edgewhereby the points I2 might pierce the picture area, thereby damagingthe film.

The base unit It is further provided at its forward end with recessed ortubular bosses 25, each of which is adapted to receive a single point[2. This permits the latter toreadily perforate the engaged film,thereby insuring positive gripping. The tops of the bosses engage theprojections II, mounting the points, restricting the depth ofpenetration and providing a firm clamping action upon the film which canonly be released by pressure upon the manually-operable means I3. Theconfiguration of the projections H and bosses 25 is such that, when thefilm is suspended by the clip from a supporting bar to dry, the variousprocessing and washing liquids are readily drained from the clip. Nopockets of liquid are thus retained which, upon release of the clip, mayrun down upon the film to streak the surface. This end configuration'ofthe film clip is best noted in Fig. 2.

As described above, one end of the resilient member 10 terminates in thebent-down portion 14. This portion projects slightly into a recess 26formed in one end of the base unit, as clearly seen in Figs. 1, 3 and 5.The base I8, the resilient element It, and the turned-down end 14thereof thus cooperate to form a loop by means of which the film clipand the attached film may be suspended from a bar or similar supportingstructure. This particular arrangement allows the rear' end I3 of themember It to be depressed to open the clamp, and yet permits the clip tobe suspended from a support without the danger of "it being accidentallydetached therefrom.

Since a film strip suspended in a treating bath will ordinarily not hangproperly but will tend to curl and wind upon itself, it is desirable tosecure a weight to the bottom of the strip. The film clip embodying thepresent invention is also adapted to be used for this purpose. The baseunit I8 is provided with, apertures 21 and 28 which are adapted toreceive the bosses 29 and 30, respectively, integrally formed on theweight 3|. The latter element, which is preferably formed of a heavymetal, gives the clip assembly suflicient weight whereby, when attachedto the lower end of a film strip, the strip will be vertically andproperly suspended. The ends of the bosses 29 and 30 may be upset in theapertures 21 and 28 to fasten the weight 3| permanently to the base unitl8, although obviously other means and methods may be employed topermanently secure these two elements together. Alternately,

vided for attaching a series of the described film clips to a supportingstructure one permitting the. strips to be supported in planarrelationship, the other in non-planar parallel relationship.

The materials, both metal and plastic, ofwhich. the various elements ofthe above-describodfilm: clip are composed are selected'from thosewhich; are not adversely affected by the chemicals em ployed in thevarious processing operations to which the film clips will be exposed.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that we have provided means forobtaining all. the objects and advantages of this invention. 2 I What Weclaim and desire to secure by Letters Patentof the United States is:

1. A film clip comprising a base, a resilient member having teeth offsetfrom one end there-- of and manually-operable means at the other end, aU-shaped slot intermediate the ends of.

said member defining asubstantially fiat integral tongue, and meanssecuring the free end of said tongue to the base whereby the teeth ofsaid member are normally held in engagementwith;

the base by the resilience of the tongue.

2. A film clip comprisingia base unit and resilient member, saidresilient member having teeth at one end thereof and an offsetprojection at the other end,,a U-shaped slot intermediate the ends ofthe member forming an integraltongue therein, said base unit havinganintegral stud intermediateitsendsand a, recess .in one end thereof, saidtongue being secured to, the stud whereby the offset projection of themember-is received in the recess and the teeth of the.mem' ber arenormally held in engagement with the base unit by the resilience of thetongue. 3. A film clip comprising a base unit and'a. resilient member,said resilient member having film-engaging means at one end,manually-open able means at the other end, and a resilient tongueintegrally secured intermediate thefiendsj of said member, said baseunit having a stud and a projection on one face thereof intermediate theends of the baseunitsaid tongue beingse cured to the stud whereby .thefilm-engaging means of the member are normally held in en-. gagementwith the base unit by the resilience of the tongue and may be disengagedtherefrom by exerting pressure on. said manually-operable means to pivotsaid member about said p. 10- jection. v

4. A film clip comprisinga base-unit and a; resilient member, saidresilient member having teeth at one end and manually-operabl means atthe other end, a U-shaped slot intermediate the ends of the memberforming an integral tongue therein, said base unit having an integralstud and a pair of projections on one face thereof intermediate the endsof the base unit, said tongue being secured to the stud whereby theteeth of the member are normally held in engagement with the base unitby the resilience of the tongue and may be disengaged therefrom byexerting pressure on said manually-operable means to rock said memberabout said pair of projections.

5. A film clip comprising a base unit and a resilient member, saidresilient member having teeth at one end and manually-operable means atthe other end, a U-shaped slot intermediate the ends of said memberdefining an integral tongue therein, said base unit having a studintermediate its ends, a leaf spring, said tongue and leaf spring beingsecured to the stud whereby the teeth of the member are normally held inengagement with the base unit by the combined resilient urging of thetongue and the leaf spring.

6. A film clip comprising a base unit and a resilient member, saidresilient member having teeth at one end and an offset projection at theother end, a tongue integrally formed intermediate the ends of saidmember, said base unit having an integral stud intermediate its ends anda recess in one end thereof, a leaf spring, said tongue and leaf springbeing secured to the stud whereby the offset projection is received inthe recess and the teeth of the member are normally held in engagementwith the base unit by the combined resilient urging of the tongue andthe leaf spring. 4

'7. A film clip comprising a base unit and a resilient member, saidresilient member having teeth at one end and manually-operable means atthe other end, a tongue integrally formed intermediate the ends of saidmember, said base unit having projecting means and a fulcrum on one facethereof intermediate the ends of the base unit, a helper spring, saidtongue and helper spring being secured to the projecting means wherebysaid member may be rocked about the fulcrum, the teeth of the memberbeing normally held in engagement with the base unit by the combinedresilient urging of the tongue and the helper spring.

8. A film clip comprising a base unit and a resilient member, saidresilient member having film-engaging means at one end andmanuallyoperable means at the other end, a tongue integrally formedintermediate the ends of said member, said base unit having a projectionintermediate its ends, a helper spring, said helper spring and tonguebeing attached in overlapping relation to the base unit whereby saidmember may be rocked about said projection, the filmengaging means ofthe member being normally held in engagement with the base unit by thecombined resilient urging of the tongue and helper spring.

ROBERT F. SMITH, JR. PAUL D. DALE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 314 549 Tucker Mar. 24, 1885630,034 Clark Aug. 1, 1899 1,057,515 Zalkin Apr. 1, 1913 1,317,243Tornsjo Sept. 30, 1919 1,373,493 Dye Apr. 5, 1921 1,932,946 Wolf Oct.31, 1933 2,116,386 Copeland May 3, 1938 2,345,051 Jensen Mar. 28, 1944

